


A Human in  a World of Monsters

by Firelmp



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Family, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Past Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 03:49:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7997503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firelmp/pseuds/Firelmp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff always thought he would coast through life, finish highschool, go to college, get married and have a normal life, the world proved him wrong when his family moved and everything went to shit, and apparently its only been getting worse from there, now he's been offered (Very forcefully) into living in the Slender Mansion and with the misfit gang of killers under the same roof Jeffs not finding it so bad, but still others are trying to kill him and some aren't new faces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Imaginary Carnaval

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Any and all characters written in this story belong to there creators and are being used fairly and within copyright claimes by their creators

It hurt, it really did hurt so much. The pain of remembering, the torment of one's mind. Digging up old memories that he would much rather forget than ever relive or even think of again. But Jeffrey woods had no choice, he was stuck in an endless loop of remembering, he doesn't know how long it had been or if he's even really still alive as a whole, for a long while now he has been remembering that horrible night, the disastrous night where he messed everything up, where he felt the warm blood on his hands for the first time, where he fell in love in the most horrendous way possible. He doesn't want to remember anymore, he doesn't want to see the ashen white faces of his parents frozen in a scream, he doesn't want to see his brothers wide green eyes as he comes to the realization of what is happening. Jeff doesn't want to anymore, he just wants to go home. He wants to see the sun again, he wants to feel the wind again. He just wants to go home, he just wants to go home….

Jeff shivers, a biting wind claws through his tattered white hoodie and pulls at his charred hair. He doesn't know where he is. It's dark, but the shapes he could make out looked like circus tents sapped of their bright colors and falling apart, decayed and rotting. He doesn't know how he got there, but the pain of remembering still burns in his mind, and he can feel himself shaking.

He stands still in that one spot, afraid to move, hands balled at his sides jaw clenched and eyes screwed shut...wait. Jeffs' head rose from its bowed position, his eyes opened, and he blinked… this wasn't right, he didn't have eyelids. He seared them off on That Night. Something was wrong. Jeff looked down at himself, his white hoodie was tattered, worn but not blood stained like he remembered it to be, and his black jeans were not ripped like where before he had to relive his worst night of his life. This was wrong, all sorts of wrong, and he needed to figure out what. So with a determined resolve, he started wandering around the decaying circus.

It took him a while to explore all of it, how long exactly Jeff couldn't pinpoint, time didn't seem to move. Even as he came up on the one attraction he had been avoiding for as long as possible, the hall of mirrors, it's walls decaying and once bright paint peeling off and the overall terrifying look of it, he couldn't help but chuckle. It all seems like just a bad horror game. He thought, the atmosphere of the fairgrounds had long since worn off on him and in a typical teenage fashion he had started looking at the whole situation with a cynical humor. So with his apathetic resolve, he dove into the hall of mirrors.

Forcing the heavy metal door open though his apathetic attitude disappeared. The hall itself was nothing out of the ordinary, an old mirror maze with dusty and shattered mirrors, but still, just standing in the doorway and looking in made a chill run down his spine. He grabbed the bottom of his hoodie and rubbed it between his fingers, reminding himself that he was here, that he was strong, that he had to get to the bottom of this. With a new resolve and a rapid heart rate, he plunged on into the darkness of the maze.

Jeff counted five minutes,five minutes before he got hopelessly lost in the maze, in some parts it was too dark to see, and in others where the light was just enough to make out some shapes he could only see his grimy reflection and even then it was hardly discernible. “Stupid ass fucking maze…” he grumbled

“The Hall of Mirrors wasn't exactly my first pick either, I’m just going off of what your subconscious will allow me to do.” someone giggled from the darkness, but still somehow you could hear the shrug in his voice, yea it was definitely a he that had just spoken.

Jeff spun on his heel, startled. “Who are you?” he didn't have his knife so he just settled for putting his hands out in front of him to blindly grope at the darkness to he wouldn't bump into anything

“I’ll tell you who I am if you can find me.~” he taunted, the man's voice echoing around the maze, gawfing in laughter when Jeff tripped over something heavy and round.

Jeff landed with a solid ‘Oof’ scraping his chin in the scattered bits of broken glass and splinters of wood on the floor, sitting up and rubbing his chin he caught a glint of what made him trip, a metal pipe. A cheeky grin made his scars smile even wider as he got an idea, standing he heaved the heavy pipe up and swung it like a baseball bat, shattering the mirror closest to him. The twinkling of the glass hitting the concrete floor made him feel in control for once since the day he moved to that god forsaken town. The man from somewhere in the maze was quiet, and Jeff smiled even wider, swinging and shattering another mirror, and another, and another, and another, any mirror he came across was shattered. His breathing became labored and his arms burned but with every shattered mirror he felt better, he felt a little bit freer, a little bit more like himself.

His rampage came to a jarring halt when something caught his pipe mid swing. Jeff was forced to look up at what had stopped him. The monochromatic clown through whatever control Jeff felt he had out the window. The clown smiled at him, letting go of Jeff's pipe and letting it fall to the ground with a metallic ‘thunk’ Jeffs shaking arms too tired to hold it up above his head any longer.

“You are a clever kid, I’ll give you that. Not many people would have thought to break the mirrors to find me, but of course, the bad luck won't apply considering this is a dream and all.” the clown rambled on as Jeff stared in confusion.

“Who the hell are you?” Jeff asked, cutting the coned nose clown off mid-ramble, “And where the hell am I? Did you say dream? Am I still in a fucking coma? Did I just dream about killing my family?”

The clown Pondered Jeff for a moment. “I’m Laughing Jack.” he started, “And Yes you’re in a kinda coma, I put you in one for your rehabilitation, and yes you did kill your family two years ago.”

Jeff's jaw dropped “Two Years ago! I’ve been in a coma for two years!”

Laughing Jack shook his head, sending his feathered collar and black mom of hair bouncing, “No, No, No you’ve been killing willy nilly for a year and a half, Slender found you himself and brought you back here, You’ve only been sleeping for about six months. But and worry, you’re safe where you are,” Laughing Jack made a grand gesture to himself, “I’m here to help you wake up when you're ready.”

“Then How the hell do I wake up?” Jeff's mind was reeling, all of this was hard to comprehend, but he knew for damn certain he wanted to wake up.

Jack beamed a sharp-toothed grin at the teenager, and stepped out of his way to reveal one single solitary mirror, Jeff stepped up to it. The glass was clean, polished, and he stared back at himself. But it wasn't him, it was Jeff from before, Dirty blond hair in his usual just-rolled-out-of-bed style blue eyes wide and hopeful and not burned around the edges, he looked happy.

“That's You. well, it's sane you. The you would be if nothing had ever happened. In a way, that is the little part of sanity you have locked away to keep safe.” Laughing Jack explained from behind Jeff.

“What do I do with it?” Jeff asked, glancing back at the clown.

Laughing Jack shrugged, “It's up to you, either smash it and get rid of the one sliver of control you have left or leave it be, let it have free reign over your actions again and take back your life that will never be the same again, either way, I get out of here, so make your choice, and uh, see you on the other side or whatever you kids are saying these days.” Just like that, with a blink of Jeff's eyes, Laughing Jack was gone and he was alone with his sanity.

Looking back at the mirror Jeff contemplated the clown's words. He was right, Jeffs life would never be the same again, if what Jack said was true - and he was inclined to say Jack wasn't lying- he had nothing to go back to, he had killed his family, and from what Jack said he had killed others. He was a murderer, what point did someone like him have for sanity? Jeff found himself raising his pipe for another swing to shatter his sanity he hesitated. His sanity was eyeing the pipe in fear, it's expression leading, ‘You’re somewhere safe’ It had sounded like Jack was offering a way out, a refuge for him a possibly new life, a different way, a way out.

Dropping the pipe with a clatter jeff touched the cool glass of his reflection, his sanity gave a relieved smile, and that same smile spread across Jeff's lips, washing him in warmth as his vision faded to nothing.


	2. Waking Up

All Jeff could feel where pins and needles as his limbs woke up much slower than his mind did, his ears rung in the silence and his mouth was as dry as the desert, and try as he might his eyes would not open, or, considering he had seared his eyelids off his eyes were open and the darkness he saw was something covering them. Whatever the reason for the darkness Jeff knew he needed to move, because despite what Jack had said about hm being safe Jeff wanted to decide that for himself and if Jeff was being honest with himself he didn't really trust the monochromatic clown with his life like this.

So, with his limbs still waking up, jeff moved his arms, or at least tried to. something was binding them down when he tried to move his legs he found them in the same situation. Sighing through his nose Jeff resigned himself to his fate.

He was getting really sick of not knowing how much time had passed, but yet here he was again, waiting, with no sense of the passage of time and no knowledge of his surroundings other than he was tied down and whatever he was lying on was soft. The creak of a door opening disturbed the silence of his breathing like a choir of angled. Whoever had come into the room walked almost silently, their footsteps muffled in a way Jeff took to mean carpeted floors, he listened closer - really it was the only thing he could do - and revised his hypothesis of who had just entered the room, there were two steps of footsteps, the second set almost completely in sink and using the already quiet steps of the other as a distraction to creep silently in the leaders wake. The two sets of footsteps parted and stopped, Jeff feeling the two figures looming over him.

The sudden commanding voice of one of the sets of footsteps made Jeff jump, “State your name, age, and place of birth.” the Voice was deep, rugged. A man's voice.

Jeff had to pause, trying to get his dry tongue working. It took him a moment but eventually he croaked out, “Jeffery Woods, Fifteen, Boston Mass.” speaking hurt his dry throat.

It took a moment's hesitation but he felt clothed - no gloved - hands start to undo the restraints on his wrist and ankles. “You must have a lot of questions,” different voice, this one less commanding but still gruff told Jeff, “But we’d rather get some food into you and Get you on your feet first.” Jeff nodded in agreement and understanding, feeling the biting hunger now that the voice had mentioned it.

Someone had finally ripped off whatever was covering Jeff's eyes and immediately he recoiled, shrinking into the pillow at the sudden light blinding him, one of his now free hands quickly covered his eyes.

“Sorry ‘about that kid, I should have warned you.” the first voice , the commanding one, apologized, but the apology did nothing to recover Jeff's momentary loss of sight, but was getting better, slowly letting more light slip through his fingers as his eyes adjusted, he felt the bed dip wit weight to his left.

“EJ and Dr. Smiley fixed you up, cleaned your scars and somehow they managed to fix your eyes, but - and this is their words not mine - your eyelids are efficient but not perfect, they will clear dust from your eyes and keep them moist but not block most if any light. So you're going to use other methods if you want a room dark to take sleep in.” the less commanding tone one explained to him. The conversation -if it could really be called that- lulled into nothingness as the three waited for effs eyes to adjust, when they did he finally got a chance to look around. The first thing he saw, of course, were the two odd men at his bedside. The one Jeff had identified with the commanding voice was glaring down at him with dirt brown eyes that peered through the black eyes of his expressionless mask, his gloved hands were shoved in the pockets f his mustard yellow jacket. The one that was sitting to Jeffs left was holding a water bottle in his gloved hand, offering it to Jeff once he forced his weak muscles to push him into a sitting position. Jeff eagerly took the bottle and chugged half of it before stopping to take a breath, still taking sips to wet his parched throat as he finished studying the man in the yellow hoodie with the ski mask that had red eyes and a stitched on mouth that closed any holes. The room itself was small, but still, it made jeff feel like he was in some fancy hotel. The beds and tables looked mahogany -along with the wood frame of the canopy bed he was in - with those weird lamps with eh stained glass lampshade you always saw at a garage sale or in home decorating stores and that you weren't sure anyone but your grandmother owned, the maroon walls made the room look darker despite the weird lamps being turned on and a fireplace opposite the bed looked like it hadn't been used in a while.

Jeff's growling stomach broke him out of his observations, sheepishly looking over to the man sitting on the bed, he seemed like the nicer of the two, “Food?” he croaked out, voice rusty from lack of use now rather than being dry.

The hooded man nodded, and with the help of the other one managed to get Jeff out of bed. Jeff's weak skinny legs didn't provide him much support on his own, it was almost embarrassing how much the teen literally leaned on the two older men as they helped him slowly, agonizingly slowly, hobble down the deep green hallways that were lined with wall hanging candle lights with various things draped over them and into the kitchen dining area. Once Jeff was seated and his startling blue eyes darted around the room, taking in the surprisingly modern kitchen the white masked one disappeared into the pantry to make the too skinny boy something to eat, the yellow hooded one stayed behind to make sure Jeff didn't break anything.

“You call all me Hoodie by the way” Jeff's head snapped in the direction of the man. His hands nervously, repeatedly trying to crack his knuckles, “And you can call Mr. high and mighty in the kitchen Masky, Tim when he takes his mask off.” Hoodie explained.

Before Jeff could say anything the other man, Masky, dropped a paper towel with two pieces of toast in front of him. Looking down at the food Jeff's stomach did a complete 180 and was suddenly feeling very, very sick. Jeff nervously looked at Masky, then, Hoodie almost like he was pleading for help, then went back to glaring at his toast

So engrossed in the staring contest he was having with the food Jeff actually jumped when Masky put a hand on his shoulder, “Eat.” he commanded, “You don't have to eat all of it Just some.” he promised, dirt brown eyes a little softer than his last glare. Jeff nodded raising a piece of toast to his mouth, and taking a breath to manage his nerves, took a bite. He had to try hard to resist the urge to spit the food out with every bite, but eventually he forced it down, and then another bite and another until he called it quits at half a peace left. Any more and he felt like he would be sick.

“I’m done,” Jeff announced, throwing the half a piece he had left onto the paper towel, leaning back in his chair and breathing deep and controlled to keep his nausea away. Masky and Hoodie both looked at Jeff sympathetically, they both knew from experience how hard and slow it was to get someone off the brink of starvation. Hell, they were surprised at how much Jeff had eaten. But still, if he didn't keep it down it wouldn't really have mattered how much he had eaten so again the three waited for the scared boy, this time until the worst of the nausea passed. When he was able to ask questions again the first one that forced it's way out of his mouth was “Where am I?”

The question made both masked men smile beneath the masks they wore, that was usually the question everyone asked first, “This, “Masky began gesturing to the house as a whole, “Is the Slender Mansion.”  
Jeff tilted his head, he had never heard of this place before, “Is this some sort of weird mental hospital or like a government facility or something?” it was the first thing that came to mind, and when he thought about it, it did kind of made a weird sort of sense. Hoodie chuckled beside Jeff,Masky facepalmed with a heavy sigh.

“The Mansion is a place where Hoodie and my boss, Slender Man, gathers his Proxies and anyone he thinks has potential, killers stalkers, madmen, basically anyone that can effectively creep out or kill people,” Masky explained head still in his hand, then looking up he pointed at Jeff. “You became Slenders newest recruit when he decided to bring you here”

Jeff stared up at Masky in disbelief, eyes wide and a little scared, these two were killers? He a killer? Yes you are, you’ve killed, you’ve killed a lot. Something whispered, tickling the back of his mind “Tha-That's that's not possible I wouldn't do an of that!” He protested, Yes you would, you have.

Jeff couldn't see the disappointed faces of the two men in yellow but he could certainly feel them.”You really don’t remember?” Hoodie asked, voice just above a whisper in disappointed disbelief.

“Of course he doesn't! LJ warned us about this! Of course, this couldn't be easy, something just had to go wrong. Jeff probably blocked the memories out the question is how to we get him to unblock them?’Masky started to pace, Hoddie going to stand, arguing how this wasn't Jeff's fault, and how to get his memories back without hitting him in the head with a pipe or something Jeff couldn't really hear them over the sudden ringing in his ears and the headache that was threatening to split his head in half.and the almost overpowering nausea that came back with a vengeance.

“Guys..” Jeff croaked, clutching his stomach the two arguing men didn't hear him “Guys!” he called again lurching to his feet, and ultimately to his knees, his legs too weak to support him on his own his other senses, vision, sound, were overwhelmed, momentarily blacking out, everything muffled. A pain in his chest, a hand on his arms, warmth dripping down his chin, something being forced into his mouth, a moment of clarity, a looming black and white figure and then nothing.


	3. The Blind Checkup

Jeff woke with a start, shooting awake and panting, this time, unrestrained in his bed, disorienting, disturbing images flashed in his mind, blood, so much blood, the glint of a knife, pale faces frozen in horror, screams echoed in his ears, a cackling laughter, his cackling laughter. He had killed, Masky was right, he had killed. The dead faces of his mother and father hunted his mind's eye, his brothers scared wide green eyes followed, Lui, he had killed Lui. Oh god, he was a killer, he murdered his family, not just that he had murdered hundreds more, any poor soul he came across, Jane, her family. He remembered them.

'They were all weak, ugly, they deserved to die.' A voice growled, the room shook. Jeff looked around his room in a panic, when did he start calling this room his room?

'Do you not remember what we did? We set all those people free, I set all those people free, you didn't want to, you're weak too.' The voice growled again, the room shook more violently, the lamps on the bedside tables clinked,rattling towards the edge. Jeff was shaking now, he didn't want to say in fear, but the wet sticky stuff that coated his hands, and spotted his face with warmth, the red walls that glistened, the dripping from one of the dark corners, he knew it was all blood. The blood made him shake with something close to fear. 'You can't get rid of me, I know you want to. But unfortunately you are part of me, and I am part of you' Jeff appeared at the foot of the bed, another one a different one. This one with a blood-soaked smile freshly cut, blue eyes icy and cracked with madness and crying blood. This Jeff glared at himself in the bed through a messy tangle of raven black hair, licking blood soaked lips he started to chuckle deep in his throat, stalking forward, a knife in hand dripping blood like the rest of him.

Jeff's heart insides were cold in panic. He desperately tried to scramble away from his blood-soaked doppelganger, weak limbs pushed hs back into the headrest of the bed as he tried hard not to let his breathing get out of control. But his blood-soaked double grabbed his skinny ankle and yanked him back so he was laying on the bed again. Deep chuckles turned to malicious cackling as the blood soaked Jeff climbed on top of his terrified other sitting heavy on his chest and holding his skinny wrists above his head with one hand, his knife in the other, 'Look at me, so weak, so scared. I can't believe this is all we used to be.' He growled his laughter dying as he spoke. 'Why don't you let me take control for a little while so we can show everyone how great we are, how strong we are?'

Jeff, being held down and with a knife to his neck knew for certain that it would be all sort of bad if he let this bloodied doppelganger take control of anything, a gut feeling made monetarily braver than he actually was, a moment of fire warmed the chill of panic, "I'd rather die than let you take control." he protested, hoping his voice sounded brave. The chill of panic returned gripping his heart and soul twice as hard with the way his doppelganger smiled,sick and menacing. And Jeff knew he had used a very poor wording choice

The blood soaked hand that was holding his arms down moved to cover his mouth now, Jeff paralyzed in fear. Couldn't move, his doppelgangers knife glinted as he raised it high. 'And here I thought we could be friends,' the doppelganger giggled, 'But you're just as weak as the rest of them, so now you just need to just, go to sleep.' The knife came down and -

He was choking, something was holding him, his mind jumped to trying to kill him, he was caught in something, restricting his movement, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe,he couldn't breathe! Choking, flailing wildly, and tears stinging his eyes he pushed away from the thing that was holding him down, weightless for a moment then hitting his side hard with a thud. Ripping whatever was wrapped around his head and neck, cloth? It felt like cloth, was it cloth? Trying to take a breath of cool air, he couldn't, he still couldn't breathe, still couldn't breath why couldn't he breathe? Jeff somehow got to his feet, hoping that if he could just get moving then he would be able to breathe again, his legs buckled beneath him before he could take a step, he was weightless again but only for a moment. Strong arms wrapped around his chest holding him up. 'Get away! They will hurt you!' something in his mind told him, his conscience? his inner reason? That blood-soaked version of himself? Jeff didn't know but the voice had a good point he struggled, trying to get out of the strong grasp.

"Jeffery!" Pin, blinding white pain. His face hurt, but in the wake of the pain his mind cleared, he could see past the panic, the room was deep maroon from the wallpaper, not blood, Masky stood in front of him, hands holding Jeff's head in place, instructing him to breathe. Unconsciously Jeff followed his commands, In, one, two, three, out. In, one, two, three, out. In, one, two, three, out. Over and over, slowly Jeff was able to breathe again, all the while never breaking eye contact with Masky, Brown eyes swimming with worry and reassurance. Finally, finally Jeff could breathe on his own again, he could think straight again. He knew Masky was supporting him, he knew his legs were tangled in the blankets, he knew his stitches had ripped when Masky hit him to bring him out of his panic and that he was bleeding, he knew he had pushed away from the men that were helping him in his panic. Jeff bowed his head in shame, "I'm sorry." he whispered, tears threatening his eye again. He didn't see the worried glance masky gave Hoodie.

Jeff let the two men guide him back into bed, re-wrapping him in the blankets he had thrown off and leaning him against the headboard, Masky carefully examining Jeff's bleeding scars. "Yea, I definitely ripped some of the stitches, sorry kid." he apologized, patting Jeff who still had his head bowed. Jeff missed another concerned look from Masky. "Hey Hoodie, go get EJ for me, I'll stay and clean up the blood." the door creaked open the closed, Hoddie was gone. Masky reached to get a washcloth from the bowl of water on the bedside table, Jeff's eyes followed him, curious. "You were out for only a day, but you had a high fever throughout the night Hoodie and I stayed with you to make sure it didn't get too bad, your fever broke not too long ago actually." Masky explained an unsaid, 'Before you freaked out.' hung between them, or maybe Jeff just believed it did. Jeff took a breath to apologize again for making the two men worry over him,but masky hushed him by grabbing his chin, forcing his mouth closed, and starting to dab at his open wound with the cold washcloth "Don't apologize. You're still recovering. Slender appearing suddenly caused you to collapse, and the fever. It's Hoodie and mine's fault that we didn't give you the pills to counter the effects." Masky explained, putting the washcloth back in the bowl for a moment, tugging his mask off and putting it next to the bowl. "Ah, that's better, can finally see what I'm doing clearly." he turned back to Jeff to finish cleaning off the blood from his face. Masky was tanner than Jeff thought he would be, his eyes not as dark when he could see them properly more of a coffee brown than dirt, but overall Masky, no Hoodie said to call him Tim when he took his mask off, just looked tired. Sideburns hugged gaunt cheeks and dark bags that were covered by the black eyes of the mask hung under his eyes, his nose a bit crooked from most likely a number of fights, not overly handsome but Jeff figured he had had a few girlfriends in his life, but still it was clear just how tired Tim was, and the long night of watching over his own fever probably didn't help and only added to Jeff's guilt. "As for your little panic attack, Don't worry, Hoodie and I got them all the time when we were first starting out as Proxies, they get better after a while. But for now, we need you to tell us what the nightmare you were having was about. Yes, I know you were having a nightmare, you were flailing in your sleep no I don't expect you to tell me now, but you will tell us all once EJ Finishes stitching you up"

The door creaked open and a gray-skinned man brunet with a blue mask walked in, bleeding black eyes watching the two intently, a black old-timey doctors bag matched his black jacket and jeans perfectly. "Speak of the devil," Tim muttered, Slipping Jeff a reassuring smile, before moving to let EJ take a look at his scar.

Carefully EJ, inspected the torn stitches, "Tim, what did you do?" he sighed, shaking his head, Tim just shrugged

"I did what I felt was right, kinda surprised myself that it worked," Tim admitted, turning his attention to Hoodie as he came into the room.

EJ Just shook his head, digging in his black bag. Turning back to Jeff with a needle in one hand and surgical thread the other he started trying to thread the curved needle. "I'm Eyeless Jack, by the way, EJ for short so I and Laughing Jack don't get mixed up," he checked the thread missing the needle, "Even in the world of the supernatural Jack is still a common name. Damn can't get the thread through the eye, can you?" he asked holding the thread and needle out to Jeff.

Hesitantly Jeff took the needle and thread, bringing it close to his face to attempt to thread it, "Are you really eyeless?" he asked as he missed his first attempt to thread the needle. EJ's mask lifted like he was smiling

"How about I tell you that after I finish stitching you up?" Jeff nodded signifying he was okay with that, finally getting the needle threaded. Nd handing it back to Jack, who tied it up and tilted Jeff's head so he could better stitch up his open scar. The whole time was oddly quiet, the only conversation was Hoddie and Tim talking about their newest assignment. Finally after what seemed like forever, or at least so long it felt like Jeff's face went numb to the pain of the needle going repeatedly in and out of his scar tissue, Jack pulled away, taking the needle with him and instructing jeff to "Smile, good now frown, great now open your mouth wide, good close..."one final check of the stitches "alright I'm Done, now Hoodie told me you and a nightmare and then a panic attack where you were hyperventilating, can you tell me what your nightmare was about?" So Jeff did, he told the three men about his dream, about the blood, about how he remembers in pieces killing his family, then Jane's then how he burned her alive, and the fragments he remembered from other murders he had committed. He told them about his other self, his blood-soaked selves demands. What Jeff told the men left them in deep thought, EJ coming to a conclusion first. "Seems like the most likely explanation is that when LJ offered you the choice to shatter the mirror and you didn't you created two separate personalities, and yes I know about that whole thing, LJ won't stop 'regaling' us about how he saved you at dinner."

"So right now Jeff's sane, he's the boy he was before he went on a killing spree? And his other personality is the killer right?" Hoodie asked, just to clarify.

EJ nodded, "It seems like it," he turned his crying black eyes to Jeff, "I don't think this is fixable, not completely, but we can help you get along with your other personality, Tim would be the best for that, I'm a close second. But we will help you that much I can promise." EJ rescued Jeff with an awkward pat on the shoulder before standing, closing the medical bag and making for the door. "Anyway, I'm going to get food. Oh, and Jeff," he paused lifting his mask into his ruffled brown hair revealing his gray almost black face and empty eye sockets, "I am completely eyeless, but don't worry, I don't mess up surgeries." EJ gave him a sharped-toothed grin, putting his mask back in place and closed the door behind him."

Jeff wide-eyed at the fact that a literally blind man just stitched up his cheek looked at a smiling Tim and Hoddie with wide eyes, "He- he was really blind? And you just let him stitch me up?!"

Tim chuckled, Flopping onto Jeff's bed like they were old time friends. "Relax before Ej was possessed he was studying as a medical student, whatever possessed him basically sees for him, he's the best doctor in the house, he only has trouble seeing really small things, so don't worry bout it." he waved it off.

Hoodie sat down to Jeff right, pressing an orange pill bottle into his hand. "You shouldn't have to worry about seeing EJ all that much, Tim and I were Technical appointed your guardians so if you have any small wounds that need stitching up come to one of us, Trips to EJ are saved for something bigger and more life threatening."

Jeff held up the pill bottle shaking it, "Alright, I'll keep that in mind, but what are these for? Pain meds?"

"Oh, that's right I forgot about those. Take two of those pills once you wake up and once before you go to bed, they will let you be in Slender's Zalgo's or any other beings like them presence without collapsing like you did." Tim explained sitting up.

"You have forty-eight pills in there right now,once you're down to eight pills tell me or Tim and we will have more for you within those two days." Hoodie finished Jeff nodding.

"I guess I should take one now right?" Jeff asked looking between the two of them.

Tim snapped his fingers, "That's right! You need food! Wait to take them until I get you food alright?" he jumped off the bed, grabbed his mask and rushed out the bedroom to get Jeff som food. It only took a few minutes for Masky to come back wit a glass of water in one hand and some toast in the other. Just like the last time, he ate Jeff had a piece and a half of the toast and he downed the entire glass of water, this time swallowing two of the pills with it. Afterward, the three talked about the recovery schedule and physical therapy Jeff would have to go through starting the next day in order to get his legs in working order again.


	4. Three days, Three Weeks, Three Months

“Hey, Hey new kid. Hey, wake up.” a harsh whisper tired Jeff from his first restful sleep since he had woken up at the Mansion the first time. “C’mon new kid, I know you’re just faking it, your breathing picked up.” Jeff just groaned rolling over from his stomach to his side away from the pestering voice that was trying to wake him up, the clock - that Jeff couldn't remember was there- - ticking was a bit detrimental to his goal of falling back asleep.  
The person trying to wake him had different plans. Instead of just leaving the person just sighed and roughly pulled a reluctant, and limp Jeff into a sitting position. Then holding Jeff up with one hand wrapped around the collar of the too big shirt he had been wearing for a while now - he presumed either Masky or Hoodie gave to him for a night shirt - and ripped off the eyemask he was told to wear at night (and that he found extremely helpful for keeping out the light. But with Jeff mostly still asleep all he could to din protest was muster a weak “Nooooo…” even his inner voice was still asleep and disoriented.  
The guy trying to wake jeff up hook him a little, his head loling back and forth, “Hey, c’mon I just want to get to know you.” the man complained,patting the side of his scarred cheek carefully, Jeff could feel the hand twitch as it did so, and heard the ticking, now popping sound again closer to his ear than last time. Finally, and very reluctantly Jeff forced open one of his tired blue eyes, then the other, easily adjusting to the darkness that had long ago enveloped the room, and almost the muzzled boy in front of Jeff, the only reason the dark of night did not consume the boy was because of his bright neon goggles covering his eyes and his pale -almost as white as Jeff’s - skin seemed to be illuminated from somewhere inside of him.  
“Finally you’re awake!.” he let go of Jeff's shirt and dug inside of his hoodie's pocket, “I’m Toby, by the way, I know you’re Jeff, Masky told me, he also told me not to bother you but I like meeting new people, “ toby pulled out a box from his pocket and held it up triumphantly “Wanna play Uno?”  
Jeff obliged the Toby, his twitches and ticks becoming a thing of the background as they played game after game, Jeff's public school upbringings making each game more competitive as he woke up. Round after round they played, getting a little too into it and not noticing the passage of time. An easy friendship built upon a game made to destroy them. Hazy old light filtering through the blinds, signaling whatever resembles morning in the strange otherworld the Mansion resided in.  
The duo’s fifth- somethingth game of Uno that night was interrupted when the door slammed open, making Jeff and Toby both jump, and Masky stormed in. “Tobias Rogers, what the hell do you think you are doing? I specifically told you not to bother Jeff , and what the hell do you do you go and bother Jeff!” Masky yelled hands waving in his anger, Hoodie hiding from the confrontation in the shadow of the door. Toby, smartly, got off the bed and got as far away from Masky as he could , hands raised in a show of surrender, the two hatchets that Jeff didn't know where there swung forgotten in his belt.  
“Masky, Masky. I- I'm so-sorry! I could-couldn't help- help it! I got- got curious!” Toby pleaded, his stuttering getting in the way of his pleads, his twitching getting worse.  
Masky sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose through his mask, “Get out of here Toby, get some sleep, we’ll talk about this later.”  
It was obvious that Toby was grateful, Jeff could see his shoulders relax through his violent twitching as he hurried out of the room with a final wave and a “Sa - see ya lat-later, Je-Jeff.” stuttered out before he stepped passed Hoodie and disappeared into the rest of the unknown mansion.  
Again Masky sighed, it sounded more exasperated than the disappointed one he gave Toby. “I'll get you some food Jeff, take your pills while I do.” He left, costing the door behind him.  
Hoodie started picking up the scattered Uno cards from where Toby dropped them, “When did he wake you up?” Hoodie asked, his voice small, raspy, it almost sounded scared.  
“I think around two in the morning,” Jeff answered, skinny hands gathering the cards that were left on the bed.  
He heard Hoodie swear to himself under his breath, “Sorry about that, Toby's a good kid really, great at what he does, Slenders third best proxy, but he could use some work on following Masky’s orders better.”  
Hoodie handed Jeff the cards he had gathered from the floor, Jeff working them into an organized pile “What was he even doing up at two in the morning anyway?”  
Hoodie shrugged, sitting where Toby had sat, “He had just come home from a kill yesterday afternoon. He doesn't really sleep for a day or two after a kill, gives him bad nightmares. Either that or his insomnia was acting up again, then again I guess both of those reasons go hand in hand…” he trailed off in thought.  
“And the twitching and stuttering?” Jeff asked putting the neat pile of cards back into their box.  
Hoodie waved a dismissive hand, “He has a few conditions, Tourette Syndrome cases his tics and twitches, his PTSD and bipolar disorder were probably triggered causing the stuttering when Masky started to yell.”  
“PTSD?”  
Hoodie shook his head, “Toby didn't have a good life before Slender took him in, a lot of bad things happened to him. Slender thankfully whipped his memory of his life before but I think he's priced together some things, he's a lot smarter than he lets on. I wouldn't recommend asking Toby about his life before Slender though just incase something happens.”  
Jeff nodded, Toby seemed like a nice guy, carefree, nonchalant, to think that he had so much baggage to carry. He had had a friend back in Massachusetts with Bipolar disorder so Jeff knew how to respond to the mod shifts but with everything else he had to tread carefully. ‘Don't judge a book by it's cover Jeffery.’ His inner voice nagged, making Jeff grimace  
Jeff's thoughts were interrupted when Masky came back, bearing more toast, this time with jam on it, though. And so began the third day of jeffs life in the slender mansion.

 

It was easy to say that anyone would get antsy after staying in one room for more than a few days. But at three weeks Jeff was going absolutely insane… well more so figuratively than the literal inside his killer alter ego classifies him as on a mental health scale. Three weeks of only really seeing Masky, Hoodie, and Toby. three weeks of eating and physical therapy to get his muscles and weight back up to where they’re supposed to be and gosh darn it Jeff just wanted to see the rest of the mansion. So he planned it, he had timed when Masky and Hoodie would leave him alone to sleep, r read a book or something as they did their regular duties as Slenders Proxies, it was a good four hours he was left alone.  
Jeff had counted out the minutes. Waiting a good half an hours just to be sure that his caretakers were really gone. Nothing not a sound in the hallway, not even old creaks of the mansion. It was silent. So with a false courage that nobody needed to help him support his own weight, that he could walk on his own. Jeff swung his legs over the edge of the bed he was confided in or so long and stood up. ‘More like managed to put what little body weight you have on two malnourished sticks that could collapse from underneath you’ His, surprisingly kind-hearted killer alter ego warned him, ‘Get back to bed, you know you can’t walk yet, wait until one of the others say you’re ready to walk on your own.’  
“Why do you care so much? Just a few weeks ago you called me weak and wanted control.” Jeff asked, over the past few weeks his Killer had been quiet, only giving little warnings here and there, not really playing the antagonist like he had in the first sort of dream Jeff had had about him.  
“Dimwit, it's my body too, I can’t control it if you kill it. Killing is my job.” Jeff could visualize the eye roll The Killer would give, wit no, Jeff was rolling his eyes.  
“You’re getting bored too, I know it. Now hush, let me concentrate on not falling on our face.” Jeff felt The Killer fall back into a corner of his mind, placated for now. Taking a breath Jeff readied himself. With awkward, shaky steps, one at a time, agonizingly slow, and with more leaning on objects that he would prefer Jeff shambled his way to the hard oak door.  
Leaning hard on the door with shaking knees and panting slightly, Jeff tried to recover some energy. “God I'm weak.” he couldn't help but chuckle, to himself. He had walked maybe ten feet and already he was tired and wanted to sleep.  
‘Then turn back idiot, shamble our ass right back into bed and try again when we are stronger.’ again jeff chuckled, swinging open the door and shambled out into the dark green hallway in protest to The Killers advice.  
It took Jeff a while to shamble down the path he remembered was the way to the kitchen, he had leaned on the wall heaver then he would have liked, and his Killer’s voice wouldn't shut up at how much of a bad idea this was and that he didn't know what was in the hallway and that he could get them killed, but finally Jeff made it to the gleaming kitchen. Leaning heavily on the door frame to the kitchen Jeff took a moment to take the change of scenery in while he caught his breath and tried not to collapse. The Kitchen was shiner then he remembered from the one time he was in it. The fridge was a dark metallic with scribbled children's drawings a calendar marked with events or most likely kills that needed to be done that day, the counters and stove were spotless, cleaned like they were just installed the remnants of a breakfast where piled high in the sink, three pots and at least eight plates. Jeff's stomach growled when he thought of any food other than toast. Maybe they had some cereal or something that he could eat, maybe a pop tart, yea he could go for a poptart. With a surge of strength, Jeff lurched into the kitchen his steps becoming more confident the more he walked, but his legs stills hook from exertion, but he was making progress.  
It was rude to go through other people's things, but he wanted food. The walk from his room to the kitchen was a hard one and he needed sustenance. Besides how rude could it be to go through someone's pantry? How bad could it be? Jeff reasoned with himself. He got his answer when he opened the corner cabinet, instead of spices or jars of sauce or other normal stuff you would find in the pantry, Jeff was greeted with shelves of various body parts floating in jars or some sort of embalming substance. Fingers, toes, eyeballs, kidneys, stomachs, tongues, brains. All that sort of stuff. The surprise of it all left Jeff staring, scared mouth open, not even his inner Killer had anything to say. He didn't feel sick, no, he had a feeling he had seen it all before even though he couldn't remember seeing it exactly, the point is he had and was desensitized to it, he was just surprised, why would anyone need a cupboard full of body parts?  
Moving on from the cabinet full of body parts with a wired feeling sitting in his gut that was saying it was wrong to react so rationally to it.he opened another, this one filled with normal canned food, beans, corn, other things. The next cabinet had similar stockpiles of non-perishables and the next one. Three full cabinets of nonperishables.  
“Well when you think about it it kinda makes sense, Masky and Hoodie go out on Jobs often,and I assume Toby does too, they must have longer ones where they need to bring cans of food.” Jeff muttered to himself, maybe a bit louder than muttered,but he was alone so it really didn't matter. When Jeff opened the fourth cupboard, the one right next to the stove, it was like opening up breakfast heaven. There were three shelves, the top one had various miscellaneous things on it, syrup, sugar, flour that sort of thing, the second shelf was piled high with cereal, corn flakes, Cocoa Puffs, Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, Life and at least six more. The bottom most shelf had what Jeff was looking for, among the different snack items such as fruit loops and cookies there was one box of chocolate pop tarts that made his mouth water. But there was a problem, when Jeff reached up to grab the box his fingers came up short, brushing at empty air right in front of the box of pop tarts. Falling back to the balls of his feet Jeff stared at the box of pop tarts. He was to short to reach them. Jeff bt his lip, looking around the room to see if there was anything that would help him get the desired pop tarts. Snapping his fingers jeff had an epiphany. He had remembered a trick Lui had showed him when they were little, an easy way to get cups and other things that were to high to reach. Agin Jeff started shambling around the kitchen, looking, this time, for the cutlery drawer and eventually finding it right by the sink, grabbing a fork and making more noise than entirely necessary, he went back to the cabinet with the pop tarts stretching and leaning against the counter, using the fork to manipulate the box to the edge of the self, typing it ever so slightly so it fell into his outreached hand. Spinning on his heel and falling back against the counter, Jeff tore open the box and took out one of the silver packages, opening that aswell and started taking small, courteous bites of the heavenly chocolate pop tart.  
Jeff was almost done with the second pop tart in the silver package when he felt eyes watching him. Looking up and around the kitchen, he saw a flash of blond and green duck behind the corner out of sight. Putting his pop tart down Jeff went to investigate. Somehow on his unsteady feet he managed to make it to the corner nearly silently, but still heavily leaning on the counters and walls. Peaking around the corner that the flash of color darted behind he had to look down to see anyone, and when he finally did make eye contact with the person that was watching him, or really, it was a kid. Jeff couldn't say that the kid was older than ten, short blond and dressed up like Link from the Legend of Zelda the only real difference between the two was that the kid in front of Jeff had bleeding eyes that were black where the whites should be and red where there was supposed to be his pupil.  
The two boys just stared at each other in silence for a moment. Confused and curious about the other. The Link look alike was the first to speak up, “You’re not supposed to be out of bed. You’re still sick.” the boy's voice rang with what sounded like autotune  
Jeff blinked, “What?” he asked, making for a very good first impression of his character to the small child in front of him.  
“Masky and Hoodie said that you're sick, so you have to stay in bed until you get better.” the child explained, despite his bleeding black eyes looking up at Jeff fairly innocently, “So what are you doing up?”  
“I got sick of my room, and I’m feeling better now so I came out to get some food.” it was the truth, but still Jeff was tense, this house was full of killers, this child in front of him must e a killer too then. But the tenseness in Jeffs' shoulders dissipated when the child smiled up at him, a smile that had just the slightest amount of mischief in int to be dangerous.  
“That's good, Glad you’re feeling better, I Was getting bored paying with Sally anyway, C’mon let's go play some Mario Kart ! I’ll even go easy on you!” the Link look alike started dragging Jeff by the hand, his grip surprisingly strong enough for jeff to be able to not get out, but then again that could be the fifteen-year-old being under nourished. Either way the little blond child dragged Jeff through the dining room that Jeff had eaten on his first day at the Mansion and into a living room with a big wide screen tv, shelves upon shelves of games, at least three different consoles under the tv and a hap hazard pillow fort made up of bed sheets and cushions from the couch. In the middle of said pillow fort sat a girl, curly brown hair hanging in her face and pink night dress stained with blood, coloring in a coloring book.  
“Sally! Sally! Jeffs all better he can play with us now!” the boy dragging Jeff called getting the girls attention. Her head shot up from the coloring book to look at the two boys, her face was covered in blood dripping from her bangs, green eyes shining like lamp lights, and to Jeff, she appeared almost translucent, intangible even. But when she saw Jeff her bloodied bruised adorable seven-year-old face lit up in a smile. Bouncing over, Jeff could have sworn she was flying, she hugged Jeff her sudden weight flying into his gut broke the weak balance Jeff had and sent him to the ground Sally on top of him.  
“Jeffy! Me and Ben were wondering when we would get to see you!” She squealed, sitting on his chest and beaming down at him, it felt like nothing was there, the place where she was supposedly sitting in him was freezing cold.  
“Sally I don't think tackling him is the best way to say hello to the person that just met you,” Ben warned fiddling with one of the consuls under the tv.  
Sally looked at Jeff with wide eyes shocked that she did something wrong, “‘m sorry…” she muttered crawling off of Jeffs' chest and retreating to her spot admits the coloring books. Sitting up Jeff felt his heart sink at her sad face.  
“Hey, Sally. It's alright really, I'm not hurt, I just wasn't expecting you to fly into me. It's the first time we've met in person, next time I'll be prepared.” He reassured her. She looked at him in disbelief for a moment before beaming up at him again. Before she could say anything though a Wii remote landed in the nest of blankets she was sat in, another was held In front of Jeff.  
“I said I would go easy on you, but don't expect that privilege for long,” Ben warned, with a clever smile.  
Taking the remote Jeff felt like he was with his little cousins back in Massachusetts. When they would all play Mario party together while the adults talked about adult things. Shaking his head to push away those thoughts he tried matching Ben's smile, “Go easy on me or don't, either way, I'll win.”  
Ben raised a fine blond eyebrow, “Is that a challenge I sense from the new guy?”  
“It can be if you chose to accept it.”  
Smiling wide and sitting next to Jeff on the soft carpet Ben gave a mock glare with his black and red eyes “You're on.” And so the Mario Kart tournament of centuries began. Both boys testing their talents against one another, both winning games both loading them. As some point some how they ended up under the same blanket draped over their shoulders, Sally quietly playing with Jeff's dry, brittle, shoulder length black hair. He didn't really mind all that much, the occasional tug of the head or random strand of hair in his eyes distracted him but it was alright. It felt like family. No threats of death, no hostile intentions no killer vibes Jeff had been expecting when he finally met the rest of the mansions household, but as far as he could tell this was it, and it really did feel like he was just hanging out with his siblings. That was, until the doorbell rang. When the chipper ding dong rang through the halls all three of them froze, the only movement was the flick of Ben's pointed ears as they rose in alarm. The trio waited in silence, the only sound was the forgotten game of Mario Kart, then the chipper sound rang again, deep and echoed through the big house. Jeff watched Ben, how his glowing red eyes dimmed and his whole body slumped a little almost like he was a robot shutting down. But it only lasted for a moment. The young boy's eyes quickly coming back to their full glow, maybe even brighter as he sat ramrod straight. “Sally, clean up your hair stuff, and help Jeff hide under some blankets.” Ben ordered moving quickly to turn the tv to a random children's channel and throwing a blanket over Jeff before rushing to the kitchen to clean up the forgotten pop tart. Sally moved quickly too, undoing the ribbon and braids from Jeff's hair to put them away before helping him to slink back into the farthest corner of the pillow fort she and Ben had built. Jeff cocooned himself in three different blankets, making it look like he was just a random pile while also leaving a small hole for him to breath and see out of.  
Ben quickly came back to see if Jeff was hidden well enough, and apparently deeming the mess of blankets the fifteen-year-old was wrapped in good enough after he pulled the spying while closed, went and answered the door.  
“So nice of you to finally let me in Glitch.” Jeff heard the visitor drawl, voice deep and echoey in Jeff's head, leaving us ears ringing.  
Ben laughed, Jeff could hear the nervous shake to it, surely the visitor could too. “Sorry for the wait Lord Zalgo, it's just me and Sally here right now so we had to do a quick cleanup job.”  
The visitor, Zalgo’s, heavy footsteps thumped on the hardwood floors, Jeff could hear Ben's lighter footsteps padding behind Zalgo, the two of them were coming closer. Jeff heard Zalgo audibly tisk at the state the room was in. Fear clutched at Jeff, he didn't know why, maybe it was because this Zalgo was an outsider if the mansion, maybe it was because of the nervousness in Ben's voice, but one thing was certain, Jeff was in the cold clutches of fear, he was also in the cold clutches of something else, a black and red tendril grabbed at Jeff's throat through the blankets, yanking him roughly out of them, the General so tight around his neck that he didn't have the ability to yelp.  
The tendril around Jeff's neck was choaking him, killing him. No matter how much he struggled, no matter how much his hands clawed at the slick tendril the formless mass of black and red that said the deal belonged too just smeared, or at least Jeff would have thought the Mass did his vision was failing rapidly, an ever encroaching black threatened to blind him as he was strangled, a persistent ringing in his ear overshadowed the shouts and protests of Ben and Sally as they tried pleading for his life. Jeff's last faint traces of vision faded to black, his limbs were heavy and his lungs burned. ‘Well this is it, idiot, great job getting us-’ his inner killers mocking was cut short when Jeff could suddenly breathe again. Deep gasping breaths taken to ease the burning in his lungs, his vision, though faded and dim could make out the colored blurs of motion, the grey green of Toby's hoodie flew at the red and black mass of Zalgo a different black mass not far behind, the yellow and black of Hoodie worriedly checking over him, Masky’s mustard yellow jacket was over by the green and pink blobs of Sally and Ben, making sure they where alright. His vision was clearing with every blink but his ears were ringing too much to hear anything and he were coughing, he didn't think it was because he was choked nearly to death. But the important part was he could see what was going on.  
The tall guy in black was bent over Toby, blocking whatever red and black tentacles from attacking him. Toby himself as doing a fine job chopping the tendrils that came at him with his two hatchets. Toby was doing fine until a speedy tendril from Zalgo managed to come at Toby from behind and knock him across the room where he hit the wall and slumped down limp. Masky ran over to check if he was okay. Nobody moved as Zalgo and the tall man in the black suit the Jeff assumed was Slender. The ringing in Jeff's ears swelled, and by how Masky, Hoodie, and everyone else covered their ears Jeff assumed that it swelled in the others ears too. But then it died down and Zalgo just vanished, Jeff blinked and he was just gone and Jeff could hear again.  
“Jeff, Jeffrey! You okay?” Hoodie asked grabbing his attention.  
Jeff slowly nodded making a mental checklist of okay and finding he was, well aside for a headache but it was bearable. “Wh-what was that all about?” He croaked out throat burning from being choked.  
The ringing filled his ears again, and he new it was Slender, it was Slender explaining things to him. That Zalgo was the lord of this other world, that he hated humans and that he only tolerated the Proxies because they were his servants, but that Jeff's life was now in danger more so now because Zalgo knows he exists and that the demon knows Jeff is not a proxy. Jeff could only nod as Slender somehow beamed all this information into his head through the ringing in his ears. But he was more concerned about Sally and Ben. The two kids looked traumatized, Sally was crying into Ben's shoulder as he looked at Jeff with worry in a blank expression, more blood dripping out of his eyes like tears than before.  
Ignoring Hoodies impromptu checkup after Jeffs near death experience, he managed to get to his feet unsteadily and followed my Hoodie and Masky’s protests walked over and kneeled down in front of the children. Jeff hesitated for a moment, clueless on what to do. He couldn't exactly console Sally with a witty ‘don't worry I'm fine, that bad dude won't hurt me anymore.’ Because she clearly knew better. So instead he put a gentle hand on her shoulder to let her know she was there. At his touch she looked up from Ben's shoulder face stained with Bloodied tears like Ben’s and launched herself at him instead, small, light, almost ghostly arms wrapped loosely around his neck, her face buried and most likely staining his borrowed white shirt with blood. Jeff acted on reflex when he hugged her back, one hand in her curly brown hair the other adjusted her to sit more comfortably in his lap. Hushing her he looked at Ben. The small elf boy looked like he was on the verge of breaking too, so taking and arm from around Sally and opening it to Ben Jeff offered him a hug too. Surprisingly Ben took the offer, latching onto Jeff like a leach, burying his head into Jeff's shoulder and breaking down, shaking with tears of shock, of terror and relief.  
Preoccupied with comforting the two crying children Jeff didn't notice - or if he did,cared- about the looks the two awake Proxies shared through the masks meant to hide such glances. To them, it was odd to see Sally, and especially Ben openly seek comfort in anyone but themselves. The two young spirits knew that showing weakness in the face of a near death of one of their friends labeled them weak, and considering they were to young it was difficult to keep emotions bottled up but they did, somehow. So seeing the two now openly cry into Jeff’s -who should still be a stranger to them really- shoulder was surprising, to say the least. Static swelled in the two men's ears, and they were reminded of their task of making sure Toby was okay. Slender disappeared most likely to start making dinner. And the two knew that once everyone was home that the three kids would have to spill the whole story.

After three months recovering in a mansion in a forest otherworld that was ruled by a being that hated humans, a normal suburban neighborhood was a jarring change of scenery, but Jeff honestly loved it. It was like being home again, walking home at eight at night after being over a friends house all afternoon in the suburbs of Boston. The ringing in his ears though reminded Jeff that he wasn't in the suburbs of Boston, he was somewhere in England looking for a home to break into and kill the residents of.  
‘Hurry up and chose! Even Slender is getting impatient, not to mention I am too.’ The Killer complained, making Jeff roll his eyes. It had been agreed by the both of them that the Killer was going to take over to kill and only to kill, nothing more. As soon as the time was up or someone needed to talk with him then Jeff would take over again.and if the Killer wouldn't give uphold…. Well then Slender and LJ assured him that they could get Jeff back to his right mind.  
Sighing Jeff shook his head. He was getting off track again, he needed to find a house with the lights off. Looking up and down the street, he saw one, right on the edge of suburbia and the dark looming woods. Just beyond the house he could feel rather than see Slenders presence in the woods, the darkness doing well to conceal his unnatural figure, Jeff knew that at least one of his Proxies was with him.  
Tugging on the hood of the now blood-stained-free white hoodie that Masky had given back to him that morning over breakfast, he started heading to the dark house. Coming closer to the house Jeff's heart started to pound. The knife in his pocket felt like a brick of lead, the blood of the people he had killed before weighing it down in his hoodie's pocket. His hands were shaking.  
‘Want me to take it from here?’ his killer asked.  
“Ben said he would watch once we started right?” Jeff muttered out loud, blue eyes cold and resolute as he glared at the house through the black-brown hair that hung in his face, pushed forward by his hood.  
“Yes, he promised not to watch, record or follow us. Only Slender and whatever proxies he has with him will see us.’  
Jeff nodded, trapping his emotions, his doubts about killing, in the back of his mind, preparing to let the killer take over, and went around to the back door, remembering the lessons for breaking and entering and how to pick a lock with the lock pick Hoodie had given him “Damned kid better keep his promise.” Jeff muttered under his breath as he crouched to pick the door.  
‘He will. He respects you. You became like his and Sally's older brother.’  
Jeff tried hard not the think of his older brother “I know. That's why I don't want them seeing you.” He heard the lock click open, “We're in. You can take it from here. I'm eating this kill though so you don't break our rules.” Jeff warned before he closed his eyes, letting himself relax, pulling away from reality, from his senses and letting the Killer take over.  
It was a weird sensation, almost like he was living a dream. Jeff could feel himself moving, he could see himself moving, but he wasn't in control of his movements, he wouldn't remember half of what he saw or did, his process of thought was slow like he was thinking through the slime. He felt his hand gripping the knife in his hoodie pocket, and draw it out as he crept up the stairs. Stopping at the top and looking left, the right, two rooms at the end of the small hallway, “Left or right?” The killer asked using Jeff's mouth, a chuckle bubbling at the back of his throat. Jeff didn't answer, his brain thinking to sluggishly. The killer went left.  
The bedrooms door creaked open, it was the master bedroom that the killer was creeping into. Two men - it didn't matter their relationship status, or their sexuality, either way, straight or not, they would die tonight - slept in the bed. The killer made quick work of the bigger of the two men, long wavy blond hair stained with his blood, whatever he coughed up in an attempt to warn the other man was caught in his beard. The other guy woke up with a start, reflexively pushing the killer away, green eyes as wild as his hair and big eyebrows shot up in surprise as he tried to scramble away and out the door. Jeff was faster, though. Tripping over the bed in his haste to get to the guy before he got out Jeff knocked the guy into the side of the dresser, his head cracking, not yet dead but suffering. Jeff grabbed the guys messy hair and slammed his head into the dresser a few more times, dropping him limp to the ground once Jeff heard another snap.  
The killer laughed as he retrieved his blood soaked knife from the dead guy staining the sheets with his blood, and with a hop in his step walked out “Now to the right.” He said almost sing-song as he pushed the other door open.  
The right room was a kids bedroom. Two boys, Jeff assumed twins not much older than Ben, slept on beds pushed on opposite side of the room to make room for a nice play space in the middle. He laughed, loud enough to wake both children. The killer lunged at the screaming child, quickly gutting him, his long hair and a loose curl hung in his wide eyes. The last child was frozen, not even have courage enough to scream as the killer stalked towards him, knife ready. “Ya know,” Jeff heard the killer giggle, it felt weird in his throat, “You're pretty stupid aren't ‘cha? You could have run when I killed your brother and make it more fun for me. But no. You just had to be boring.” The kid stared up at him defiantly, lip quivering and eyes tearing up. “It's past your bedtime kid. So go to sleep.” The killer growled, and the kid finally screamed. Jeff's world went dark, he couldn't watch anymore. The kid looked too much like Ben.  
Jeff woke up panting, thrust raw and lungs burning. His hands were wet and sticky, so was his white sweatshirt. He knew what was in his hands, but the still wet blood was not what concerned him, the smell of smoke and the wail of sirens screaming closer did. The tree he was leaning against to catch his breath bit through his sweatshirt to dig into his flesh with its rough bark. “Jeff!” His head snapped to Masky running towards him. “Holy shit, are you okay?” He asked not waiting for a response from the bloodied killer before the masked man started looking for wounds like a worried parent.  
“Yea. Yea I'm fine. I'm alright.” His tongue felt heavy like he was eating cotton balls. He probably ran a lot. But the heat on his skin made him second guess. Slender was suddenly there, lining behind Masky and bending to look over jeff himself worriedly ringing in Jeff's ear. Jeff batted both of them away when an explosion shook the ground, finally looking around the tree he was leaning against the bloodied teen looked shocked at the burning inferno that once was a quaint little British street. “I did that…?” Jeff breathed in disbelief.  
Masky nodded using Jeff's shoulder as an armrest, “Yep, you did all of that.” he was smiling under the mask, really this job called for a little more subtlety but it seemed that as of late all the new killers had been burning down houses. “Ya know, before you came along only Tob could claim the title of burning down houses when he killed. But I see you’re quite adept at it too,”  
“I almost feel bad…” muttered Jeff as the three of them watched the dead end burn. More fire trucks were arriving, followed closely by police and ambulances, the red and blue flashing lights clashed against the roaring flicker of the houses wrapped in their inferno.  
Masky turned on his heel with a huff, Slender vanishing from behind Jeff, probably back to the Mansion “Well c’mon, we should get going before the cops start looking for the culprit. Besides, you're done for the night. You’ll do more tomorrow.” he said walking off, stifling a cough. The smoke was starting to drift into the woods, it made Jeff's eyes burn.  
Jeff was just about to follow Masky when he heard a dog yelp, looking back h could just make how a fireman pulling a dog from one of the burning houses, squinting through the haze Jeff could just make out that the dog was a husky.  
‘Save the dog.’ his inner killer ordered, “  
Why?” Jeff asked already moving to the fireman, pulling his knife out of his pocket.  
‘Because we want that dog, he's a friend.’ Jeff could feel faint memories tugging at his mind, wisps of killing people with a bloodied dog at his side. If this was the same dog then some miracle that was.  
The confrontation with the firemen that were trying to put a leash on his dog was over in a few seconds, he had the element of surprise on his side, a few stabs, and a slit throat later and the firemen were dead and Jeff and the Husky were running off back into the woods. The dog seemed to trust him, to know him already, following Jeff without hesitation. The woods were getting darker, though, making it hard to see the black and white dog through the heavy smoke that was making it hard for Jeff to breath. With lungs and eyes burning Jeff almost crashed into a very angry Masky who looked like an inpatient child next to slender, who looked equally as inpatient.  
Jeff started talking before the two could start scolding him, “I'm sorry but-” he had no argument, it was an impulse. But the dog's soft fur molded into his hand easily as the husky sat next to him, as resolved to say with the teen as the teen was to keep the dog. “Dog, ya know?” He defended weakly with a nervous smile and a shrug. “Can we keep him?”  
Masky pinched the bridge of his nose through his mask, “Jeff we can't just- wait, what? He can?” Masky started to scold but cut himself off to stare in disbelief at Slender.  
There was a moment of silence between the three with only the commotion of the still burning cul-de-sac as the masked man stained down the eyeless otherworldly being. Then Masky sighed in defeat, “You can keep the dog.” Before Jeff could give a triumphant yell masky went on, “but. You're taking care of him. That means walks every day, feeding him, bathing him, and cleaning up after him.” Jeff nodded. He had always wanted a dog, but Lui had been allergic to fur so they could never get one. Masky sighed again, already thinking he would be taking care of the dog after the first few weeks “Oh and his name is Smile, he's a killer like us. Ben might know him actually.” Masky finished, turning on his heel and disappearing into the woods, the hidden portal to the Mansion somewhere farther inside. Slender disappeared too. Jeff looked down at Smile, scared grin appearing even bigger because of his real beaming smile. Smile barked, wagged his tail and as a boy and his dog, not a killer and his partner in crime, walked into the woods following Masky.


End file.
